caulfield12

That's kind of a minor point in the overall scheme of things, isn't it? Basically, it's also a bad look because Acuna and Derek Hill might be the same RH player in the big picture. Sure, Hill is much older and Acuna has the name brand and youth/potential on his side at least.

Probably only Boyer or Merkin actually listen ...

Including the Brewers...never thought a day would come when the Cardinals are actually rebuilding and the Pirates/Reds legitimatey trying to compete. Well, sort of. Lost franchises: Sox Nationals Rockies Cards Angels Twins Drifting aka Drift Kings: Royals Guardians Brewers Rays Padres DBacks Astros Rangers On upswing: Marlins (maybe) Giants (sort of) Pirates Reds A's Serious Competitors: Dodgers Jays Mets Cubs Red Sox Phillies Yankees Tigers O's Mariners Braves

This is all reminding me of KW/Hahn with their Stanford/MI/NW/Harvard elite educations and "reputations." Some guys are big picture/less detail oriented. But you definitely need BOTH types in your front office to be effective. (Money is on Carlos Rodriguez being the most knowledgeable, overall.) It's not like Acuna wasn't a possible trade target over multiple years, either. That move didn't come totally out of left field. It was telegtraphed.

Where does that leave Vasil? Taylor? Rule 5 guys? If Newcomb Hicks Dominguez and Leasure are the back end of the pen, plus the other lefties...

Jenks Thornton Crain D.Marte Sergio Santos all say hello..

Other than the Dodgers Mets and maybe the Blue Jays....just no way those guys can find five other owners to block middle and small markets from getting to 22/30 on the future labor agreement. Who would they possibly be? Red Sox, Cubs, Phillies (maybe), Yankees (maybe), Giants, Angels, Tigers, Braves, Rangers, Astros? Just not seeing even five from that group at this point in time ...

Wisconsin Indiana UCLA USC and Ohio State all fighting it out on the bubble. First two teams look safe for now. Iowa has a good record and only one bad loss at Minnesota (see MSU recently), but also only one Quad 1 win. Current 7 seed. Ironic that Afford was brought in almost thirty years ago now because Tom Davis was always around that 7-9 seed line and got crushed in 2nd round games.

JR must have met him for breakfast/lunch after the trade, where Acuna related his long-held dream of becoming a switch hitter one day. Must have been a hazy, cigar smoked filled room to complete the picture. Voila! Message gets pushed down to Getz. JR's Brooklyn, then Los Angeles Dodgers 1963, Jim Gilliam 3B, Maury Wills SS, Jim Lefebvre 2B and Wes Parker 1B. Dec 31, 2024 Infield oddity history. The only infield with four switch hitters. - Facebook "Above them, team owner Joe Lacob had bonded with Jonathan Kuminga at a Miami dinner during the 2021 predraft process and gripped onto the idea that Kuminga could still become a face of the franchise's next era at several forks in the road. But Lacob was too unwilling to move off a dream that didn't fit the roster or system, one his coaching staff didn't desire to execute, team sources said. "Let your basketball people make basketball decisions," one team source said. source espn

They also went to all the credibility baseball info sites and nothing there....either. What next, his alternate middle name is Barry/Berry? Who was that huge Braves like $4 million signing at SS that turned out to be the wrong age/identity? Pretty sure he ended up with LAA. "Acuña grew up in La Sabana, Venezuela.[1] Acuña had agreed in principle to sign with the Atlanta Braves in 2017, but due to the Braves international signing scandal, Atlanta was stripped of its ability to pay his signing bonus and he returned to the open market.[1][2] On July 2, 2018, Acuña signed with the Texas Rangers for a $425,000 signing bonus.[3][4]

Is Kyle Williams still the quasi beat reporter on the newspaper side...at least home games? Or Washington Post-ed/Bezos did that?

In this particular thread, someone said that he supposedly might have done it playing around in BP when they were scouting him...but that involves lots of conjecture and still not a great look. Then attempts to pin down all the times Getz mentioned it. Maybe Carlos Rodriguez, Barfield or Gene Watson can explain it?

Nobody is hurt yet...especially pitchers. (Knock on wood.)

Because the Rays viewed Fairbanks as less than Nick Martinez even though Fairbanks will get $13-15 million to play this season or well above $11 million lol? That was 100% correct. Because he didn't sign for 2/$20? That random probability is where I lost Because Murakami fell into their laps somehow but they're still a bottom 3 payroll in the major leagues? But then they turned around and basically dumped Robert to equal out the payroll. https://www.rotowire.com/baseball/stats-defense.php Top 7 SS Who are the SS's between 8-13 on your list? Fg won't give me dWAR unless I subscribe. You note he played basically half a season. Which means he didn't do it over an entire 162 game season...everything in baseball can't be extrapolated like that. Is Colson also likely to be a 5-6 fWAR hitter based on half a season last year? All the projections would say no.

14th out of low 30s is just not Top 7-12. If he was THAT good and there were no concerns with his back/further injuries...he would be precisely Corey Seager Lite (due to the lower BA). NOBODY would talk about moving him, because of the overabundance of value in the game that amounts to all GMs.

Andrew Vaughn lol. Murakami looks a little lighter than he was in Japan 2-3 years ago or so.

How many Moncada RH at bats (or going old school, Jose Valentin RH at bats) did you need to watch? Moncada was a consensus 1-2-3 prospect, along with Benintendi and Buxton.

From the Tatis/Shields trade in mid 2016 to middle of 2019 becoming a fun and .500+/threatening team under Renteria was just three years and despite one future superstar SS/RFer subtracted. Jimenez (Rodon) Moncada Robert (Madrigal Vaughn) Kopech (top RH pitching prospect along with Giolito in Wash) Reylo and Dunning....that added up to the consensus 1-2 system in the game, along with Toronto and SD. White Sox have already been "lost/drifting" for 3 1/2 full seasons and the consenssus is not competitive until 2028. Somehow spending would also have to get back to $150-175 to challenge Detroit...which feels like the heaviest lift at the moment.

Yet nearly everyone has Roch or Carlson already supplanting him...with a move to 3B 1B or even DH considered due to those back concerns and key differences when you line up Carlson against him and compare tape. That said, he was much better than the majority of fans were led to expect based on where his game stood last off season and into April and early May. So much of his game is based on confidence and daresay forward momentum.

Feels like another version of Fedde. Baldwin Acuna (and even Pereira) and eventually Braden have to play 5-6 times per week until they prove conclusively they can or can't be MLB regulars. If they do make this move, feels like Braden is waiting until at least July or August, but that's still an expedited timeline for a college drafted who lost 2024 second half development time.

"Of course power plays a big part. Having 4 or 5 guys who can consistently, year after year hit 20-30 HR is better than a few who couldnt stay on the field long enough to show it." Benintendi is the perfect example of a guy with 15-25 homers now whose other at tributes or lack thereof make him not even the equivalent of a replacement player. Let's compare prime Anderson and Colson. Remember where TA stood in August of 2021 after the Field of Dreams walk off game? He was one of the most celebrated/charismatic players in the sport while he was simultaneously winning batting titles, stealing 30-40 bags and playing SS with a fair that few possessed. l Throwing Vargas and Sosa aside for now...those short/er glue or complementary players the Brewers seem to have/identify in abundance, which Sox prospects in their first or second years would you go to Las Vegas and put down let's say $500 on their being 3.0 fWAR guys or above? The White Sox clearly don't have young Latin American talent like Chourio for obvious reasons since Dave Wilder back in the day...but who is their Brice Turang at least??? Meidroth has as many detractors as supporters...but numerous projection systems have him leading the Sox at 2-3 f/bwar. Is he really a legit 3, though??? Can Colson repeat his last 3 1/2 months over a full season, or he does he go all sideways like Gordon Beckham? He would be the most popular choice right now overall for a 3 fWAR season. Kyle Teel might be 2 or 3 or even a 4. Will he or Quero get enough at-bats to continue sustaining that second half impact? Would/should we feel at least 75% confidence in that outcome? He definitely SEEMED like the heart of the team (along with Colson's brash confidence rubbing off on the Sox down the stretch). Acuna? Baldwin? I'd put those 2 at 25% or less for a variety of reasons that have been well-argued and documented by others across Sox twitterverse. Finally, nobody would be shocked if Braden Montgomery was an All-Star 2-3 years from now due to his likeability, work ethics and athletic tools outside of pure footspeed/burst in CF versus RF. Yet Kiley McDaniel over at ESPN has him at #189, whereas the rest of milb evaluators are all over the map from 35-75. Also, a majority of SoxTalk projected him in the majors by May of 2026 (on July 15th or so last year)....but serious contact and in-game power concerns emerged later in his season at higher levels. The Southern League has been a real bear for a litany of prior top Sox prospects. TL/DR lol So: Meidroth Teel Quero Acuna Baldwin Braden...and let's throw Murakami in there for fun too, which ones are going to end 2026 at 3 fWAR or above at "just" 60-75% confidence level? Probably would put $500 each on Colson and Kyle and let it roll...is that enough of a foundation with Roch? And then Murakami hitting so well and walking enough he's at 2-2.5 fWAR at least???

Only one stud offensive player there...

Still not seeing how this group of current prospects is going to turn out better. Speed: Robert Moncada Anderson wins Defense: Those three all had above average to borderline great defensive tools/ability. Other than Baldwin and Acuna...there aren't an abundance of players here with exceptional POTENTIAL ability to field their positions in an above average manner. Braden Montgomery likely the other above average player on defense due to arm strength and accuracy. At any rate, this isn't another "Sosa sucks at defense" post. There's hardly a one standard deviation above "average" MLB defender anywhere on the projected 2026 field other than the two previously mentioned (if they play up to their ability at ONE consistent position and actually hit, too.) Pitching: At least a year away from gelling, and will be coming off 4 consecutive years of 90+ losses in all likelihood entering 2027 unless they rest of the Central craters. Who knows...maybe Roch Cholowsky is Gunnar Henderson's clone on offense, Braden lives up to his Top 35-40 potential (not Kiley's outlier at #189), healthy Schultz and Hagen dominate again and the #2 NCAA outfield pick has Tability ability. Throw in a Bonemer breakout and Murakami downballot MVP votes and they're finally cooking with gas and Getz wins AL Executive of the Year for his ongoing rebuilding efforts.

And that was before Verlander's $13 million...making it $236 million. "Tigers are now outspending the other four AL Central teams by an average of $97 million in 2026 payroll. And no one else in the division is within $68 million." https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/detroit-tigers/news/tigers-al-central-version-dodgers-100-million-payroll/88cd484e37add19f7412a28a&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiu0LeRytCSAxX3npUCHWxwDbcQFnoECAcQAg&usg=AOvVaw3jLWSMwaw5ABnewXxsmX8h That's the highest in the AL Central, and 11th overall. The next closest team from the AL Central isn't all that close. Down at 18th overall, the Kansas City Royals come in at $180,075,858 (other sites have them at $145-150, another $168 projected). The Royals are very far off from the Tigers' mark, with a $42 million difference (and as much as $91 million). While not the massive gap that Gleeman mentioned, Spotrac.com still has the two far apart. But, after the Royals, the next closest team is the Minnesota Twins at $110,787,380. Yikes.

They also aren't 100% sold on Bohm and he's getting closer to FA. Picked right before Madrigal.